HBO Hard Knocks: Are Houston Texans Doomed For 2015?

Appearing on HBO’s Hard Knocks is both rewarding and potentially haunting. In 2015, the Houston Texans will get to find out which side they’ll be leaning toward.

Judging off history, 2015 could be a rocky road for the Texans. Of the last nine Hard Knocks participants, only four have even made the playoffs and none have advanced further than their conference’s title game. In fact, only the New York Jets did that, and they lost.

The point? Teams on Hard Knocks haven’t done that well throughout the show’s history, as they’ve combined to go just 73-71 straight up and 70-70-4 against the spread.

Could the Houston Texans be headed for a similar fate? Folks in the NFL betting world may not want to put their money on the line to find out.

While Houston’s odds of winning a Super Bowl or even making the playoffs weren’t overwhelmingly great heading into 2015, you can toss their appearance on Hard Knocks as one more reason to refrain from vouching for them.

But you weren’t betting on the Texans to win it all, anyways. This year’s NFL showcase can at least still be highly entertaining. J.J. Watt is the superstar everyone will surely be talking about, whether it’s his grueling workouts or just his impressive play in practice and during the preseason.

On top of that, the team is led by the fiery Bill O’Brien and will also put a full-blown quarterback battle on display throughout the summer. Ryan Mallett returns to try to win back the job he had a year ago, but lost due to injury. Brian Hoyer, who has previous experience in O’Brien’s offense as a member of the New England Patriots is the main competition, while third stringer Tom Savage could factor in to a lesser degree.

Hard Knocks should be worth the watch this year, as Houston tries to improve enough across the board to try to push the Indianapolis Colts for the AFC South title in 2015. Just don’t go betting the farm on them to do major damage.